With Nash in, Lakers are ‘getting closer'

LOS ANGELES Steve Nash doesn't seem to be playing with a magic wand out there on the court, but what he has done in less than a week has made it feel like the eight weeks before didn't matter.

Lakers teammate Pau Gasol tied Nash's return from his fractured fibula directly to the team's confidence level, saying the Lakers “just know what to do in the critical times” now.

Kobe Bryant doesn't want to look back — or even look at the present, though.

He made the point Tuesday after the Lakers' fifth consecutive victory that nothing really matters, yet. Bryant said that if you have a great season but then lose in the NBA Finals, “you're the (expletive) worst.” But if you have a disappointing season all the way until rising up to win in the NBA Finals, then “people don't give a (expletive)” about what happened previously.”

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni offered a little peek way into the future with his postgame answer to a question about how Nash taking over the controls and making life easier for Bryant late in games will affect Bryant, 34, by saying: “I think he'll play another five (or) six years because of it.”

Added Gasol: “We have everybody back on the floor. We're working together. Everybody on the floor is playing together. We're finally getting somewhere. We're getting closer to the place that we want to be and the team that we want to be.”

WHITE OUT

If you loved the Lakers' nearly all white uniforms Tuesday, sorry. If they hurt your eyes, good news.

The Lakers are not wearing them again this season. It was a Christmas-only uniform production by the NBA.

Lakers players wore purple socks with the uniforms Tuesday.

Players wore green ribbons on their warm-up jackets in honor of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

STREAKY GOOD

Bryant's recent move past the 30,000-point plateau was the most visible of his long-career accomplishments.

He has somewhat quietly done something pretty impressive, even by his standards, as a scorer lately, though.

Bryant reached at least 30 points for the ninth consecutive game with his 34-point output against New York.

Bryant's longest streak of games scoring at least 30 points was in January-February 2003, when he did it 16 consecutive times. Other than that, what Bryant has been doing for the Lakers is as good as it has gotten in that respect.

Bryant scored at least 30 points in nine consecutive games in 2006 and had another run earlier that year of eight consecutive games.

Bryant also passed Oscar Robertson for most points in NBA history on Christmas.

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